Two-time
Group One winner Grunt (O'Reilly x Ruqqaya) has been one of the early nominations for Victoria's
$A5million All-Star Mile.

Should
the Mick Price-trained galloper secure a spot in the final field, it will be a
return to his favoured Flemington track where he won the Australian Guineas and
Makybe Diva Stakes, both over the All Star Mile distance.

The
four-year-old becomes the third Group One winner – after Happy Clapper and
Foundry – to be entered for the All-Star Mile on March 16.

Grunt
is currently a best-priced $21 with Sportsbet in early markets for the
inaugural runing of the race.

“The
All-Star Mile is tailor-made for him,” Price said.

“His
record over a mile at Flemington is outstanding, so there was never any doubt
that we would be entering him for the race.

"Obviously
the prizemoney is very attractive, but I also think it’s a great concept so I’m
all for it. It’s important to have innovation in racing, new races like this
are exactly what we need so the think tank behind the concept should be
congratulated.

“It’s
difficult to predict how it will play out in the first year, but I’m hopeful
he’ll win enough votes to get into the race.

"He
has the right profile and form lines, so if people are being objective rather
than subjective and voting for the horse they think can win the race, then I’d
like to think he’d be pretty close to the top of the list.

"Or
maybe we’ll just have to start a campaign that if you vote for Grunt, you can
come to the stable and give him a pat.”

Grunt
has been joined in the nominations list by WA raider Material Man, who won the
2018 Perth Cup and was placed at Group One level in his last two starts.

Nominations
for the All-Star Mile will close on January 15 with the A$500 nomination fee
being donated to charity.

Public
voting will be open from January 21 to February 18, with the top 10 vote-getters
that provisionally accept their places in The All-Star Mile due to be revealed
on February 21.

The
four wildcards, which can be selected by Racing Victoria (RV) from outside the
original nominations, will then be announced on or before March 4.

The
All-Star Mile is a joint initiative between RV and Victoria’s three
metropolitan clubs, the Victoria Racing Club (VRC), Melbourne Racing Club (MRC)
and Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC).

The
race will be rotated annually across three racetracks, with Caulfield set to
host the race in 2020 and The Valley in 2021-racing.com